Renew, Recharge, Invigorate

Think you know exercise benefits? Think again.

Exercise Lowers Your Stress Levels

It’s hard to work when you’re feeling anxious, upset or angry. Yes, you might be able to pour some of that negative energy into your work (“I’m going to get this $%”& report done!”) – but overall, you’re going to find that it’s hard to concentrate.

Being stressed out isn’t good for you or for the people around you. How often have you snapped at a colleague or family member, just because you were in a bad mood? How often have you had to spend time patching up that relationship?

When you’re stressed, you might feel that the last thing you want to do is summon up the motivation to get some exercise. Get moving anyway. Once you’ve been jogging or cycling for a few minutes, you’ll find the stress melting away – almost miraculously.Exercising has a proven effect on our mental state, so much so that doctors now “prescribe” exercise for milder cases of depression.

This is something I could use, at times when I hang up the phone, feeling detached from what I was previously doing.

Exercise Can Help You Think

I’ll bet that, at some point in your life, you’ve had the experience of a great idea coming to you when you’re not at your desk. Perhaps you were in the shower, out walking, chilling out with friends, or doing something else totally unrelated to your work.

When you’re busy, it’s tempting to keep on trying to do your work. That makes it hard tothink about it in a creative way, or with new perspective. Getting away from your desk and heading to the gym (or pool or running track) gives you the “head space” which you need in order to come up with new ideas.

You might even want to keep a notebook or voice recorder to hand, so that you can jot your ideas down.

GP! GP was the first thing that came to my mind when I read this. Whenever I have to generate ideas to fill an essay, I sit at my desk trying to regurgitate everything relevant, yet nothing seem to come to mind. I can vouch for this exercise benefit!